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MARCH 10,
1923
THE
MUSIC
TRADE
REVIEW
Is the Keyless Player-Piano Coming
A Piano Technician Sees Obvious Advantages in This Form of the Player-Piano and Discusses Its Influence
on the New Art of Player-Piano Composition—The Pros and the Cons of This Type
Both From the Standpoint of Music and From That of Salability
Discussion of an interesting departure in the
art of building player-pianos is opened up by
the following letter recently received by The
Review. Unquestionably the problem involved
in the production of a keyless player-piano is
one that is interesting to the trade in general,
not only to the technician, but to the dealer and
the salesman, as the introduction of such an in-
strument, so far as the industry is concerned,
must be considered from the standpoint of sal-
ability as well as that which is purely technical.
The letter, which is written by a man well
known in the industry, follows herewith:
New York, March 1, 1923.
Editor, The Music Trade Review:
Among the hundred and one suggestions
which have been put forward for the improve-
ment of the art of applied musical pneumatics,
few are more interesting than that of abolish-
ing the keyboard and thereby producing an all-
pneumatic instrument. It is a curious fact that
some of the earliest player-pianos were keyless.
The writer remembers that some of the earliest
work by Theodore P. Brown took this form
and, indeed, unless memory fails, some of these
keyless piano experiments were actually ante-
rior to the first marketing of the cabinet player.
Considering the Pros and Cons
Considering the number of the advantages
which a keyless instrument possesses, it is sur-
prising that it has been so little thought of.
When the cabinet piano-player began to wear
out its welcome it was believed by some that
a way must be found to combine the customary
appearance of the ordinary upright piano with
the pneumatic playing mechanism in such a way
as to give the advantages of the outside player
without its obvious physical disadvantages. The
whole idea was to break in the people to the
idea of a player-piano and so, of course, every
effort was made to produce instruments which
would look as much as possible like the ordi-
nary manual upright. Even at that the first
player-pianos were bulky and ungraceful, while
the player actions were so mixed in with the
ordinary elements of the piano that to separate
them for purposes of examination or repair was
a terrible task.
Even to-day the player-piano is more or less
awkward. It would be much less so if the key-
board were abolished and the pneumatic action
brought into direct contact with the hammer
action.
Are there any arguments against the adoption
of this means for cutting down cost and im-
proving musical efficiency?
The Chief Reason for Keyboards
It does not seem so. Twenty years ago things
were different. The player-piano of that day
had to be introduced almost imperceptibly. To-
day it is an established instrument. Most peo-
ple know something about it. But the vast ma-
jority of those who own it never use its key-
board, which, in effect, remains for the use of
the tuner only. The sole argument which can
be brought against the keyless player-piano re-
fers to combining the pneumatic with the man-
ual art in the same home. In other words,
where children are to learn to play the piano the
keyboard is a necessity, while, by such methods
as are envisaged in the Q R S Educator music
rolls, the manual and the pneumatic art may be
combined, to the advantage of the student.
So, after all, we have to consider a limitation
which will probably preserve the keyboard
player-piano for a long time to come, if not for
ever.
But a new player art is arising. Slowly there
is beginning to emerge a school of composition
for the player-piano directed by a very few mu-
sicians who have the sense to perceive that it is
an instrument of exclusive and formidable mu-
sical powers, an instrument which is not in the
least to be compared with the ordinary piano,
save to the disadvantage of the last-named.
These men are working without encouragement.
They, nevertheless, are turning up virgin soil,
and there cannot be the slightest doubt that
their work will prove to be the foundation for a
powerful and permanent addition to the riches
of musical literature.
The mere fact that such a literature has been
born is enough to teach us that sooner or later
we shall have to ask ourselves whether the in-
strumental means we are providing are adequate
to the demands which may rightly be made
upon it by the composers of the new school. As
a matter of fact, the keyboard player-piano even
now limits the possibilities of the new art. Dis-
coveries have been made long since by ar-
rangers of player music which they have been
unable to bring to fruition because the player-
piano tied to the keyboard cannot exert its
full powers.
New Discoveries
The discoveries to which we refer relate prin-
cipally to the powers which can be developed
when the full capacity of the player-piano for
repetition, tremolo, iteration and speed are made
available. Given the right sort of co-operation
from the perforators of music rolls, and it is
found that by taking advantage of the theoreti-
cal ability of the present piano action to repeat
Ihe hammer-blow it is possible to produce what
in effect becomes a sustained tone, which can
be swelled and diminished by the player-pianist
at will. For a long time to come, no doubt,
this and other discoveries of the kind will have
to remain virtually buried, for the time is un-
doubtedly not yet ripe for them. Yet, in due
course, they will find their way to the light and,
if adequate instrumental means are provided for
them, will revolutionize the tone-quality and
the dynamic .powers of the piano strings and
hammers.
The player-piano, then, ought to be consid-
ered as something to be developed in two paral-
lel directions. On the one hand the imitative
instrument, which is intended to reflect and re-
produce the individual play of individual pian-
ists, will remain, of course, a keyboard instru-
ment. It is associated with manual playing,
and from manual playing derives its titles to
favor. But it does not and cannot exhaust the
resources of the player art.
These can only be fully developed by means
of the new art which treats the player-piano as
an individual instrument, having only its origin
and not at all its goal, in the accepted means
for producing piano music. This new art re-
quires already, and will more and more continue
to require, a piano action untrammeled in its
repeating powers by the interposing keyboard.
What Can Be Done
Taking away the keyboard and modifying the
piano action by reducing the number of its parts
and making it more sensitive than it now needs
to be, we shall arrive at an instrument which
will give us a sustained tone through excessive
rapid iteration, and which, furthermore, will en-
able us to the utmost to exploit those novel
;ind fascinating effects which we already know
to flow from the employment of high speed in
the evocation of series of intervals spaced ac-
cording to the musical, needs of the composer,
and not according to the limited powers of the
fingers for grasping and manipulating the key-
board.
It is, perhaps, hardly necessary to say, in ad-
dition, that the cost of building an instrument
of the keyless kind would be very much lower
than anything we now have to consider.
The time for this development is not, indeed,
quite ripe. But it is coming fast. The player-
piano is going to develop along two parallel
lines. We may as well envisage in advance the
lc-s familiar of the two, which, however, is
equally inevitable with and even more fruitful
than the other, which we know already so well.
Very truly yours,
A Technician.
SETS DATE FOR MERCHANTS' MEETING
Executive Committee of New York Piano Mer-
chants' Association Selects April 11 as Date
. for Annual Meeting
The New York Piano Merchants' Association
will hold its annual meeting at the Cafe Boule-
vard, Broadway and Forty-first street, New
York, on April 11, at 6:30 p. m., according to
present plans. The executive committee, at a
meeting held at the Republican Club, Fifth ave-
nue and Thirty-ninth street, New York, decided
upon this date. The business to be transacted
at the meeting includes election of officers for
the next fiscal year and other important matters
of interest to the trade. Richard W. Lawrence,
president of the Music Industries Chamber of
Commerce, will speak on the activities of the
Chamber and William H. Johns, president of
George Batten Co., Inc., large New York ad-
vertising agency, will speak on advertising in
the music industry.
Albert Behning, secretary of the Association,
is undertaking the arrangement of a program of
entertainment which will be carried out during
the annual dinner. Calvin T. Purdy, president,
will preside.
DE R0CHEM0NTM5ACK FROM TRIP
Vice-president of Laffargue Co. Completes Tour
Which Took Him to the Pacific Coast—High-
ly Pleased With Results
Max J. de Rochemont, vice-president of the
Laffargue Co., New York, arrived home on
Monday of this week after a most successful
six weeks' trip. When seen by a representative
of The Review Mr. de Rochemont said that he
found splendid conditions in practically every
section of the country which he visited and that
he secured some very good orders, both for
immediate and future delivery.
"The trip which I have just made," he said,
"was one of my most successful and I found
all the dealers not only optimistic in regard to
the future, but doing a splendid business at the
present time. Consequently, they are all in a
humor to buy for their present requirements, as
well as to place some substantial orders for
future delivery."
THATCHER CO. AMENDS CHARTER
LOCAN, UTAH, March 6.—An amendment to the
incorporation of the Thatcher Music Co., this
city, provides that S. S. Eccles shall act as
president and F. L. Monson as secretary of the
company, and that a majority of all outstanding
stock shall be necessary to elect officers and
conduct business. A change in the date of the
annual stockholders meeting was provided for.
A meeting of the directors will be held within
thirty days for the election of new officers.